Gossip Should Have No Friends

[October 17th, 2007] BLAZE OF GLORY: Ever since Great White’s pyrotechnics accidentally set a Rhode Island nightclub ablaze in 2003, killing 100 concertgoers, rock clubs have been touchy about fire. But bands like Portland’s dance-rock outfit the Slants are passionate about flames as a theatrical device. The two mindsets clashed earlier this month at the Hawthorne Theatre when a stage manager halted a Slants performance mid-set because the band’s frontman, Aron Moxley, spit flames without seeking prior consent. Band members say they weren’t aware of any no-flame policy. “We quickly got offstage, as requested,” the band’s bassist, Simon Young, said via local PR guy Alex Steininger’s press release. Young says the Hawthorne later let the Slants know via email that it “did not want us back.” Steininger says the Hawthorne overreacted and acted unprofessionally. “I don’t know if everybody’s just living in a vacuum,” Hawthorne Theatre booker Jeff Hill (the man who told the Slants to leave the stage) told WW . “I don’t care who’s on my stage, no one’s gonna take 100 people’s lives in my venue.” As to the band’s not being briefed on club policy, Hill adds: “I didn’t tell them to not stab somebody in the eye with a mic stand either, but I figured that would be implied.”

AIR HEADS: Lars Larson and Thom Hartmann aren’t doing badly for a couple of local radio boys with their own nationally syndicated talk shows. According to The New York Daily News ’ top 12 list of most-listened-to national radio hosts in America , KXL’s Larson tied for ninth, with 2.25 million daily listeners, and KPOJ’s Hartmann tied for 11th, with 1.5 million. Oh, and just to depress you, Rush Limbaugh retains first place, with 13.5 million people listening each day.

HALL MONITORS: We recently reported that condo owners at Elizabeth Lofts Condominiums were suing a bar in their building, Trust...A Lounge , for acting, well, like a bar. Now owners in the same building are suing one of their own—for littering . In a lawsuit filed Oct. 2 in Multnomah County Circuit Court, the owners’ association of the Elizabeth Lofts (333 NW 9th Ave.) is suing Daniel Trapp Jr. , owner of Unit 1206, for repeatedly allowing cigarette butts and ashes to be thrown from his balcony . That’s firmly against the building’s bylaws and constitutes a nuisance, the lawsuit says. Trapp, a 29-year-old who owns his own marketing company, declined to comment.

FOR SHAME, PDX: Zach-Off, i]WW[/i] ’s Zach Randolph Bobblehead Pledge Drive , was featured on espn.com and Trail Blazer fan sites, but how many bobbleheads have we received so far? Zero! Zilch! Zach! Rip City, you gotta let Z-Bo go . Put your Zach in a box and send the bobbleheads, jerseys etc. to WW (2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210) so we can pass ‘em on to a needy sports bar in New York City. It’s for the best.